A base transceiver station (BTS) in a radio access network (RAN) may support a plurality of forward link channels for transmitting forward link signals to mobile stations and a plurality of reverse link channels for receiving reverse link signals from mobile stations. The forward link channels could include, for example, a pilot channel for transmitting a pilot signal, a sync channel for transmitting system information, a paging or control channel for transmitting page messages and overhead messages, and one or more forward traffic channels for transmitting signals to mobile stations engaged in active calls. The reverse link channels could include, for example, one or more reverse traffic channels for receiving signals from mobile stations engaged in active calls and one or more access channels that mobile stations may use to contact the RAN.
A BTS may include a plurality of forward-link channel elements for transmitting signals over forward link channels and a plurality of reverse-link channel elements for receiving signals over reverse link channels. Each forward-link channel element may be associated with a respective forward link channel, and each reverse-link channel element may be associated with a respective reverse link channel. When a mobile station becomes engaged in a call, the BTS may assign a forward traffic channel and a reverse traffic channel for the call. The BTS may then transmit signals to the mobile station through a forward-link channel element associated with the forward traffic channel and receive signals from the mobile station through a reverse-link channel element associated with the reverse traffic channel.